Ten. A hundred forty-four Elves isn't very much genetic diversity - uh, there's a thing where some traits are good to have in one parent but no good to have in both parents, so in small populations where everyone is related there are problems.

...there were problems but I think they were all Melkor. What kinds of problems are you thinking of?

Uh, babies dying or people not being able to get pregnant would be one, people who bleed a lot and don't heal normally, funny-shaped faces, deteriorating vision, getting sick easily...

We don't get sick. Babies don't die that's horrible and people don't have any trouble having a baby if they want to. I haven't heard of any of the other things. Orcs are funny-shaped but that's just because Melkor wanted them to be ugly to Elves.

...Melkor wanted them to be ugly to Elves?

Because he's evil.

I think I do not understand why that's an evil thing to do.

Ugly things are just ...bad. Being in a place that's ugly is just - not okay, and it won't get okay, even if you can distract yourself from it for a little. 

Do Elves have, like, something like a pollution instinct oriented around prettiness?

I don't know. We're not very worried about gross things because we have magic for that and don't die so I don't think I have the thing which you are comparing the thing I do have to.

Greens diligently take notes. Fëanáro leans over to peek at the writing.

"Do you seem to have the same understanding of what things are pretty as us? The resort was okay and it's a first try, the scenery and music were okay..."

"Your music is different but it's not bad. The resort is not great but if it were at home people wouldn't avoid it or anything. And you and that blue thought that Valinor was pretty when I showed you. I think it must be mostly the same."

"Well, that's more convenient than the alternative."

"Yeah. If you looked and sounded like orcs and all your buildings were horrible then it would be hard to be here."

"Do orcs mind how they look?"

"I'm not sure. Supposedly they are suffering all of the time, that's probably worse."

" - why?"

"Because it's horrible? Melkor really isn't very nice."

"It sure sounds that way."

"Also I think maybe they wouldn't be orc-shaped if they weren't suffering all the time but I'm not as sure about that."

"How does that work?"

"Elf bodies take the shape that the Elf soul thinks they should. So we make ourselves beautiful because that is important, and we usually look like our family and our people and stuff. If I were raised here I'd probably have green hair because that'd be how my soul thought a person like me should look. So the way to make ugly Elves is to torture them a lot, enough that their soul doesn't think they're the kind of person they find it tolerable to be around."

"Wow."

"We're hoping Melkor gets nicer someday."